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Will it be One Term Tony Abbott or One Term Bronwyn Bishop? Or both?

Prime Minister Tony Abbott has a very simple choice. Sack Federal Parliament Speaker Bronwyn Bishop or it could end up costing him the Prime Ministership. I wasn’t planning on writing about the Bishop/expense scandal as the problem should have been a molehill and she should have resigned or been sacked by now. But it is turning into a mountain because of Tony Abbott’s refusal to act.

PM Abbott has failed to read the anti-corruption sentiment that is over-taking Australia as it has in other parts of the world. Or his lack of support in his own party is so fragile that he cannot afford to sack Bronwyn Bishop or he will lose the Prime Ministership. Almost half the Liberal Party MPswanted Abbott gonein February this year and he is probably worried he wouldn’t have the numbers now if he sacks Bronwyn Bishop.

Whatever the situation is it has gone way past the point where he should have sacked Bishop and is rapidly doing damage to his position as Prime Minister and the federal government. Based on public comments by some of the Liberal members of parliament there are members of Abbott’s own party that want Bishop gone.

Two weeks ago it was the unjustifiable$5000 chopper ridethat Bronwyn Bishop took that had social media demanding her sacking. Almost everyday since there have been new revelations of expense claims by Ms Bishop that she cannot justify except to say she had meetings with unknown people she refuses to name.

The Guardian reports there are another 15 suspect trips by Bronwyn Bishop and says:

“Bishop has said one of those claims – for $600 worth of flights from Sydney to Albury in June 2006 on the weekend of colleague Sophie Mirabella’s nearby wedding – was justified because she held a secret meeting with an unnamed source regarding her committee’s inquiry into work life balance. She justified another claim in 2007 coinciding with colleague Teresa Gambaro’s wedding by citing another one-on-one meeting with an unnamed committee source.” (Click here to read more)

Bronwyn Bishop is clearly lying about these mystery people she met. Her lies have compounded the amount of damage that is being done to the government and further inflamed the situation.

Tony Abbott originally stood by and tried to palm off criticism of the fraud committed by Ms Bishop. After a few days and a quick read of the polls PM Abbott changed tactics and started to publicly admonish Ms Bishop. But publicly criticising Bronwyn Bishop is never going to be enough and it certainly isn’t now with the almost daily revelations of more fraud by Ms Bishop and her lies.

No one buys the 2 wrongs make a right argument

Most people are not trying to defend Ms Bishop as they know you can’t defend the indefensible and you look stupid trying. But some fools are using the old routine of they did it too and pointing to the Labor Party abuses. Well that is a major reason why the Labor Party were kicked out of government at the last election and if the Liberal Party keep on acting the same way they will likely be kicked out at the next election.

The 2016 federal election will be a very close

Prime Minister Tony Abbott is not very popular and the Liberal Party are behind in the polls regularly at 48% to Labor’s 52% of the vote. The only reason they are not behind further is that the Labor Party leader Bill Shorten is also unpopular.

Federal Liberal Party members in marginal seats who won their seats at the last election by a few thousand or few hundred votes would be very worried. If the Bronwyn Bishop saga drags on until the next election it could be enough for them to lose their seats. Maybe they won’t want to wait until then and there will be another spill attempt against Prime Minister Tony Abbott.

Bronwyn Bishop is extremely disliked as Speaker and very biased

I’ve watched Bronwyn Bishop in action as the Speaker of the House and she is very arrogant and biased and not an appropriate person to be the Speaker. I came across this video of Harry Jenkins who was the Speaker from2008 to 2011when the Labor Party were in power. The video shows Bronwyn Bishop upstaging Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard MP during Question Time on Thursday, 26th November 2009. It’s a very funny video but more importantly shows how a Speaker of the House could and should act.

Bronwyn Bishop MP vs Julia Gillard MP

(Click anywhere on the above video to watch)

Zero tolerance for corruption in social media

In the past if the Abbott government was a popular one there might have been a chance they could ride the situation out. But nowadays with social media driving this issue and issues like it there is zero tolerance for corruption. So even a popular government would pay a high price by standing by someone like Bronwyn Bishop given her fraud and lies trying to cover it up.

To go to the next federal election with both Abbott and Bishop still in their positions would be a role of the dice that the Liberals can’t afford being so far back in the polls. And Bronwyn Bishop’s position is just going to keep getting worse for herself and the party while she still is the Speaker of the House.

It really comes down to the fact that Tony Abbott has to sack Bronwyn Bishop or the Liberal Party will need to sack Tony Abbott to give themselves a decent chance of winning the next election. The Bronwyn Bishop saga might not be all bad as it may end up being a catalyst for real change and a federal anti-corruption body like ICAC.

Update: Bronwyn Bishop has resigned. I published the above article at approximately 12.20am Sunday the 2nd August. Mrs Bishop announced her resignation at approximately 6pm Sunday the 2nd of August 2015. Her position had clearly become untenable.

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45 Comments on “Will it be One Term Tony Abbott or One Term Bronwyn Bishop? Or both?”

I will say that I think her expenses are excessive and she should be condemned for them. However, how hypocritical of most writers to zero in on Bronwyn when the ALPin particular have been very lavish in their spending on travel, overseas jollies for them and their mistresses/family over the years. For someone like Burke to keep this so called “scandal” going for approximately three weeks is tiresome and boring. I believe the so called Civil Servants pass the expenses for MPs, so surely a few head should roll in the Department responsible for such work. People should calm down and realise that we are all being brainwashed, especially by Shorten and his band of cohorts. Tony Abbot seems to be the most popular man in Australia to throw a shoe at, he has been denigrated beyond belief, and I for one am thoroughly fed up with it.

Bronwyn Bishop is a massive liability to the Coalition government and the liberal party because she has been in parliament far too long, using the system for her own benefit. Bishop is a liar & a thief who has destroyed her own reputation with that $5,000 chopper ride and as well now with those extra frauds she has been caught out of. She is only the speaker because Tony Abbott appointed her. It’s well known they are both friends, but if anyone else is the prime minister in the Coalition government then Bishop would not be the speaker. Even the ministers/MPs in the Coalition government know that Bishop is a liability now. One thing for certain now is that Bronwyn Bishop’s political career is finally coming to an end.

Hon. Tony Abbott has thrown the venerable status of the Office of Prime Minister of Australia into serious disrepute by his impairing inaction on this (Bronwyn Bishop) matter. He should resign now, she is already drowning from community disrespect. Such an overwhelming lack of ethical standards and lack of altruism these ”politician elected” representatives champion in their designated positions in our federal parliament is so despicable.

I have come to a simple conclusion, with the latest political scandals.. The intellectually handicapped persons & the morons are working for the government or in the media & we are led by elected idiots !
Anyone dispute that ??

People who are intellectually handicapped would not have the ability ( and I dare say the deceit required) to behave as some of our politicians (Federal, State or Local) behave.
One reasonable conclusion staring you in the face is that despite most politicians (not all by a long shot) being very intelligent and hard working, some can become dishonest, some inept, and some have no interest in representing the people.
It is not the fault of the voter. To suggest it is the fault of the voter is not rational.
Weeding out bad apples is the way to go.

I totally disagree with Kurt and Con and totally agree with boadica2 !!
Where are some of you people coming from?….this Labor rabble led by Billy-Lisping short-stop……….another bare-faced liar (like the Welsh redhead),fraud, cheat and pantsman who just lisps his way through every speech – he is pathetic……. and the great Aussie public and a good proportion of the lilly-livered mass media just swallow his garbage….Labor is just a branch of the militant trade unions in this country and nothing like the old values of Labor of even Hawke’s tenure and those of England a few years back from whence I came.
We have a State Labor man here in Vic representing people in the worst, crime-ridden northern suburb and he lives in a $5m+ house in Toorak and drives the dearest Benz…..and that’s the “modern” LABOR PARTY??
Bronwyn Bishop has obviously done the wrong thing and I wouldn’t mind betting she had no choice to get to Geelong on time for the fund raiser as Melbourne was probably gridlocked that day as usual with the pathetic lack of infrastructure heading south west to Geelong over the Westgate bridge…..the Libs don’t have the trade union millions to skim off the top….they rely on chook raffles and small local dinners etc for the most part to fund their campaigns.
So many other pollies of all persuasions and the “squeaky-clean” Labor rabble of the Juliar/Kev07 era that are still around today (eg Burke and Shorten)have all lived off the slack rules administered by their Canberra bureaucrats who approve these rorts because they get them too at the higher levels….they merely play lip service to their current political masters …..methinks.
Abbott and his front bench should keep defending Bishop to the ‘nth’ degree…she is a great Speaker in my opinion because she often makes Labor squirm in the House of Reps and I for one love it!!.
Maybe Tony can put some stringent rules in to sort out this mess that’s tainted this era of political “entitlement” for many years. I, for one would not do the hours of a senior Govt Minister for a lousy $300,000+ pay check….I think they all need their heads read….but most love being in public life and maybe the power that it brings!
I don’t agree with you about Bronwyn Bishop but you can now see where my politics lies quite clearly after many years of commenting on your site….cheers.

If you base your disagreement with my views on this matter on the argument you present which is, if I’m not mistaken, a comparative description where you describe “that what the Labor Party has done is just as bad”, then your argument is not rational as it intentionally dismisses the evidence at hand in the Abbott-Bishop matter and simply changes the subject.
I’d suggest you (if not all of us, me included) should leave aside which side of politics we ‘think’ we are on and only look at the facts and not any form of tribal thinking. Bishop committed a fraud by signing a legal document where she certified that the ,expenses were part of her “official duties as a Member of Parliament .” She is not of low intelligence, she is not illiterate, she is not making a mistake; she made a false declaration. Can you accept that from a Member of Parliament ? I can’t.

If you re-read my comment you will note that, in the first instance, I have said that Bishop “has done the wrong thing”. She is an intelligent woman and she should not have signed off her “choppergate” expenses which she considered were of a political nature as she was trying to get to a fund raiser….presumably on time! Most pollies I have known for over 50 years including in London when I attended uni and was a Young Tory have always believed they had special entitlements in these type of positions presumably because they worked in “public life”. As a senior exec in business, I received entitlements with my various jobs all my life and hardly ever had to put my hand in my pocket…they were public listed companies….so was I stealing from the mum and dad stakeholders in that business?

I could go on and on with this subject line……save to say that some of us have often had our “noses in the trough” because it was accepted as part of being, say the best Sales Director the company had ever seen and had brought millions in incremental business!

Barnaby Joyce summed it up well in the media this morning I believe by saying that if the hoi polloi or the Labor Party or backbenchers or Ministers are calling for blood with Bishop, then to keep it fair, there will be no pollies of any persuation left in Parliament……and isn’t that the truth!

I wonder if in fact Abbott can use all this hoo-haa to his advantage when parliament returns and put forward legislation to limit not only entitlement spending but also to cut golden handshakes. Why the hell are we paying for two offices plus staff for Rudd? And why did we have to pay half a million to fit out an office for Gillard in S.A. when she decided to move there? It’s not like either of them are of any value to Australia.
Would Labor support a total review of entitlements or would they suddenly get cold feet with the gravy train pulling in to its last stop. Bishop’s jaunts seem trivial when compared to how much retiring Labor pollies spent on “study tours” through Europe with their families prior to the 2013 election.

Tony Abbott must sack Bronwyn Bishop immediately. If he does not he (and his Government) will pay a heavy price at the next election. I notice that Bronwyn has cancelled her First Class++ junket to New York today so the penny may be starting to drop.

Close the left eye today, open the right eye tomorrow and close the left eye.
“Sack Bishop”, hear the shouts and hoots and jeers, all coming from people who forget what happened last month, last week or even yesterday in the political arena.
I disagree with Bishop delving into the public purse for her own benefit, and I disagreed with Craig Thomson, even though he was ‘caught out’, and all the others who rorted the system, especially Gillard and her ‘bag-carriers’, Shorten and his union mates all linked together like a Rubik’s cube, still locked together with a new twist on cheating, thieving and lying..
Tony Abbott should get a list of all the past Labor rorts, make it into a speech set in concrete and set all the one-eyed, two-faced Abbott nit-pickers back inside their multi-directional soap boxes.
I wonder how many nit-pickers are honest, upright, squeaky-clean citizens who ‘never nicked a ‘pen or pencil’ from their work-place, it IS a two-way street……. isn’t it….?

I would be the first to agree that Bronwyn was bit sloppy with her judgement when selecting her form of transport to the various venues but compared with the judges that have emerged she is still a shining angel. Take Burke as an example one of the first to jump on the gravy train with Eddie Obieds holiday camp and endless expenses associated with his vain attempt to control the illegal immigrants. Now we have Clive Palmer promising to table a vote of no confidence if he can turn up to the parliament backed by the Wilkie the spineless wimp that Gillard walked all over like a coconut matting with his pokie machine promises. Let us all look at this red herring at what it is. One, the delightful bias that Bronwyn displays in her role as speaker is really eating up the opposition, 400 chucked out for their bad manners, coupled with the fact that they cannot redeem Shorten’s shortcomings as a leader so they take the heat off by digging up dirt on the speaker. They know that Shorten can not win an election, so all the garbage that can be thrown at the ABC and the other left wing media will do no good, Shorten will be a wannabe for the rest of his short career and end up on the political junk heap like the last mob Rudd and Gillard. Tony Abbott should show the same leadership as Gillard did when she supported Craig Thomson and lumbered us with Peter Slipper as speaker, two proven corrupt crooks that are still roaming the streets and not in jail. What a bloody load of hypocrites that are pretending to do good for the Australian public a bloody joke. Bring back the two Ronnie’s What is Gillards Adelaide office being used for these days probably a Pokie Parlour. Just think of all these ex union yobs that are walking the streets with the exception of Williamson who is the only one serving time after endless billions have been spend trying to get them where they belong. Has anybody bothered to count the value of all the dwellings of union officials that have prospered so well without winning Lotto. Come on Australia wake up and rub your eyes and you might see what is going on with your hard earned cash. Allan Usherwood from Myalup WA. (Retired Engineer.)

Barnaby Joyce has offered a bizarre defence of Bronwyn Bishop’s use of travel entitlements to attend Liberal party events saying politicians would prefer to be in bed than attend fundraisers and that it is the Government’s role to support any member going through a “rough patch”.

And: Mr Joyce’s support for the embattled Speaker is at odds with other Cabinet Ministers including the Deputy Liberal Leader Julie Bishop who has diplomatically urged the Speaker to consider her position. Two other leadership contenders, Malcolm Turnbull and Scott Morrison, and the Treasurer, Joe Hockey, have all declined to offer a similar endorsement when invited.

Politicians shouldn’t be using tax payer funds to get to fundraisers. Just imagine, a politician having to get a car lift from local ordinary volunteer party members – if there are any at all! Politics is so disconnected many electorates are bereft of active members, and politicians run a mile from being trapped with a party member who cares deeply about some issue… but that’s democracy for you!

Bazza, thanks for outlining your familiarity with the business practices you describe as entitlements ( yes, at last the big “E” word), but that is not fraud. That is about “mind-set” in an organisation.

But please tell me what you mean by “noses in the trough” because that may or may not be fraud. Can you be specific?

And by the way, Barnaby Joyce has not presented any evidence to support his claim that Bronwyn Bishop made a mistake. It is purely his value judgement of ‘her signature on the expenses claim declaration’ which we all know is a fraudulent claim. Do you need to prove malice to warrant a description of fraud ? Can anyone answer that?

In fact, I would have thought that once the fraudulent act has been proven, isn’t its denial evidence enough of malice ?

Barnaby’s reference to “throwing stones” has absolutely nothing to with fraud. And his definition of “good politicians” is unknown other than clearly being an oxymoron. I’m referring to the term ‘good politicians’, not the Hon. Barnaby Joyce, of course.

It is my opinion that Bronwyn Bishop should not have used the chopper, however, I believe that as Speaker she most likely was allowed to do this.

I also hope that Mr Abbott has a list of politicians and what they spent.
Tony Burke, has been asked fifteen times to repay money’s he had used for travel not allowed. Also he enjoyed some hospitality from Mr Obeid.

And really Mr Shorten should explain what happened with the $40.000 he forgot to
list, but did that two days before the royal Commission,8 years too late.

I happen to have watched the very first day this Parliament sat and the manner in which Tony Burke treated Bronwyn Bishop. It was an absolute disgrace and he has never been any better ever since.

I also do not think Bronwyn Bishop lied!

I do believe that the system stinks. Mr Abbott should immediately change the system and get rid of a lot of these so-called entitlements. They earn enough to pay for a lot of stuff themselves and I cannot see why all these overseas trips have to be made by all those ex-union-organisers.

Of course The Foreign Minister and the Minister for Trade should be able to. I also believe that the Prime Minister and the Opposition Leader should be able to travel, when required.

I also like to see the Politicians get a pension, when they are of pension-age and not before, we just cannot afford those luxuries any longer.

And the previous prime ministers should also not receive the extremely generous entitlements, they are receiving at present.

Bishop must be sacked and charged with offences relating to travel fraud and abuse of public office if possible. She must be sacked sooner rather than later to maintain the peace and welfare of good government.

You can be sure SMH, ABC, Telegraph, News.com, Radio and the politicians damage control departments read and note what we discuss on this site. Yet not one dare involve themselves….why….because they’re all in the same club. A true journalist will speak up, but will then be sacked and black banned for life….its really another Mafia isn’t it!

Come on mainstream media….have a go….get involved….its real democracy, not plutocracy. Just heard Bronwyn resigned as Speaker, pity the people of Mackellar who still have her as their representative…. Clearly the party leader was too weak to exercise his responsibility….. ( Nietzsche: ‘to forget one’s purpose is the commonest form of stupidity’)

Bronwyn Bishop is resigning as Speaker following a string of revelations suggesting systemic abuse of taxpayer-funded travel entitlements.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott called a snap media conference on Sunday afternoon to announce the Speaker’s resignation and a major review into MPs’ entitlements but repeatedly declined to criticise his long-time “friend and colleague” over her grandiose use of travel perks.

IF the system of travel allowances is investigated, instead of the ‘nit-pickers’ going off half-cocked about “Bishop Must Be Sacked” by forming their own opinions, the truth proves them to be fools, and they are allowed to blindly vote in an election, then people like Shorten and others have used the same system, idiots who don’t know their elbows from their ear-holes.

There are no hard and fast rules for travel expenses, and 50 or more variations show the system to be ‘slack’, therefore no-one can say that Bishop was rorting the system.

Any one interested in finding out if the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions will act on the evidence in this matter. It is after all independent of the Federal Attorney General’s department….. Isn’t it?. Or has Bronwyn Bishop’s resignation mean we all “live happily ever after”.

Does a Member of Federal Parliament loose their retirement pension, superannuation benefits and other retirement benefits when they are convicted of fraud. Alas, there is no Federal ICAC……..plot thickens doesn’t it.

Bronwyn Bishop should lose all retirement benefits, but I doubt she will.
It is appalling that we don’t have Federal ICAC that would investigate Bishop and many other public officials and agencies such as NSW ICAC.

Tony Abbott never had any constitutional powers to sack Bronwyn Bishop.
What a review it will be if they do not even understand the basics about the constitution!

If you understand “separation of powers” then you ought to understand that the Speaker is the ultimate power in the House of representatives and a Prime Minister is merely a Member of Parliament as anyone else.

Tony Abbott has simply no constitutional powers to review matters that are within the House of Representatives or the Senate as they are within the constitution sovereign entities in their own right, as is the s101 Inter-State Commission!

Thank you Gerrit, a pleasure to read the facts for a change instead of the fictional word-rage from the uninformed ‘lynching party’.
It is a loose expectation for a minister to “””lose””” their entitlements when that minister is not guilty of fraud, merely claiming travel expenses within the 50 loose guidelines of the government expense system.

Fraud, from the French 14th century term ‘fraude’ meaning ‘criminal deception’, therefore Bronwyn Bishop did not criminally deceive anyone.

Jonde,, the issue is not the claiming off the expenses, but the certification that they are part of one’s official duties as a Member of Parliament, please get it right!
Let’s let a court decide. Isn’t that what justice in a social democracy is supposed to do.

Is that expecting too much? Our shall we just pretend it’s all ok?

Nobody wants a lynching party except for the false flags involved. Just JUSTICE.

I got it right Con, READ the WORDS, check on the Internet what allowances are approved, but a dumb bunny Labor idiot, Tony Burke did not get it right, now you can start throwing verbal rocks at him, and, as usual, Laborites think they can use ‘company’ money for family holidays and other things not related to government business in any way.

This is the Act that one is referred to, to obtain the details of allowances & entitlements when you search on the Parliament of Australia website ( http://www.aph.gov.au).

Now please tell me, what exactly have you been reading….. surely not the mainstream media ??? Just because the mainstream media and a politician says the rules of allowances are the problem does not mean they should be believed. Do your own research.

If reading the official Act convinces you, then surely you too may think it’s time for a Federal ICAC. There will be fish to fry everywhere!

Under the Act (https://www.comlaw.gov.au/Details/C2015C00117), as there is no definitions for “Parliamentary business”, “electoral business” or “official business” then that leaves the door open for confusion or then rorting. As what one person (politician or quite often the chief of staff or the head of his office) understands as being Parliamentary, electoral and official business might be completely differ as to what another politician etc views it as. The Act is very weak and therefore the Dept of Finance takes the broad brush approach that most things are acceptable.

Thank you ‘enough of the lies’, you have posted the same information which I referred to earlier, (link) although certain individuals did not take heed or believe the facts.
We can’t have a communications problem when we are aware how the government expense system works.
It is in the hands of government to clarify the whole expense system and create strict guidelines which must be enforced.

Looks like the debate is now coming down to what the law says in the Act versus how it is interpreted.

That decision should be left up to courts to decide, not a government enquiry as there would be a conflict of interest , remembering its all about money paid for politicians expenses. No , No I’m wrong— of course its best to let the politicians review the issue that affects them so much….. a real Tweedle Dee & Twindle Dumb story.

“Lets blame the Act” is the cunning way to detract attention from the ex-speaker’s expenses fiasco. I think it’s called camouflage, isn’t, or is it a 5th column approach by our elected politicians?

However, a Federal ICAC would throw a light on any corruption as it would have the backing of significant legal powers, so that even if the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions decides to take no action on their recommendations at least the public will know the truth. That’s what I want….the truth.
Con

Australia’s entire political system has become a financial scam rampantly used by anti-egalitarian elitists to feather their own nests. They care nothing for the country they bleed dry, and certainly not its people.

I can see an uprising by the the majority of the population who’ve had enough of being lied to, used, abused and having their financial backs broken – an Aussie Revolution to rival that of the French. I’d pay to join that.

It will be interesting to see what the Unions and their branch office called the Australian Labor Party knows or thinks it knows about Malcolm Turnbull….no doubt they have some dirt on him somewhere in their files……and I expect it to be communicated to their loyal mates in the MSM over coming weeks!

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